Unrequited Soliloquy
by WaylaidWanderer
Summary: As the rain pours down, Albus Severus Potter lifts his head, letting it mix with the salty tears on his face. He looks downward at the waves crashing below the cliff. He opens his mouth and speaks of the past. Contains character death. One-shot. REVISED!


"I can't take this anymore." Albus Severus Potter was talking to himself, perched on the edge of a cliff near Hogwarts, the cool salty spray of the sea below flavoring the air. The light rain mingled with the tears on his face.

"I've had to watch you for years. Years and years," Albus said, now lifting his face upwards slightly, speaking to a person that wasn't there; in his mind's eye.

"You don't know what I've had to go through." he continued, looking back down, a faraway look in his eyes.

"When I first saw you, I thought you were maybe a little bit crazy." Albus gave a slight smile in reminiscence.

"Then I grew to love you for whom you were." His expression softened a little bit as he said those words.

"You rejected me at first. You pushed me away, and it hurt so much because I love you so much." Albus' voice cracked a little as he said the last phrase.

"I know I really do love you; truly love you," Albus said with a strong, hard look in his eyes. "I know because I've had time to know you. I know all your flaws, your quirks, what makes you _you_."

"It's not love at first sight, because that's just wishful thinking. I am irrevocably in love with you." Albus' eyes had a slight tinge of madness to them.

"And _nothing_, nothing I do can change that." he said.

"Then there was that happy day; you gave me a chance." Albus continued. "The day you stopped pushing me away. The day you let me know you."

"And then your walls that you built up slowly fell away; I was the relentless hammer and chisel." Albus frowned. "You showed me your true face beneath your happy exterior. You were vulnerable, but you always remained strong. And I love you for that."

"Then there was a day that we talked for hours; just simply talked and did nothing else." Albus recounted. "That is perhaps the happiest day of my life. Even now, I still remember it."

"I'm the one closest to you; the boy, and now the man that knows you more than anybody else." Albus said, his face looking sad. "But I'm just a friend to you. A good one–I tried to be–but just a friend nonetheless."

"And then you started to date _him_." Albus said; his voice barely a whisper. "You can't imagine how jealous I was. He wasn't perfect. I always thought, he wouldn't be able to treat you as I did – treat you well, and because of my love for you, ask nothing in return. Every day I cursed myself; I wished that you'd be separated from him."

"And then one day you did." his voice turned bitter. "He couldn't handle the responsibilities; the work that went into making you happy selflessly. And here, I knew–I know–that I could have, no matter what."

"But," Albus continued, his voice dark, almost a monotone, "I still have no hope. He broke your heart, and you never truly healed. You refuse now to even think about the possibilities that someone else could take his place – the fact that someone else can make you happy."

"So all I can do is to be there for you." Albus said. "Day by day, even night by night if you need it. There were days where I wished I had the courage to just hug you, or maybe put my arm around you and draw you in close like he did. But sometimes you even refused, when I plucked up the courage to ask – that fool that I am."

"A few times you even told me you loved me – the times you were hopelessly vulnerable, hopelessly confused." Albus said, all emotion gone from his voice. "I told myself it couldn't last; I told myself to enjoy the happiness it gave me. And it didn't last, because you didn't truly love me. And when you stopped telling me you loved me, I was devastated – the stupid git I am, even though I knew it was coming."

"And now these last few months have been a monotonous haze. You've almost stopped talking to me. We barely speak. When was the last time we spoke face to face properly, just for the sake of talking to each other?" Albus said. "Come to think of it, you _have_ stopped talking to me. The worst has simply come. I, Albus Severus Potter, loved you unconditionally. And you've, in all essences left me here, alone."

"I've never felt so alone. I've never felt so sad." Albus said, his voice breaking. He stood up, looking down at the crashing waves on the rocky outcrop below. "I cried so many times, when I remembered how we used to be."

"And I don't want to cry anymore. I don't want to hurt anymore." Albus laughed suddenly. "I just wanted this pain to go away, and now it _will_ go away."

"Goodbye, my love," Albus said, savoring the taste of the words on his tongue. "I love you. Forever, and always, until the end of time."

Albus took a simple step forward, and his momentum began to carry him into the harsh, cold waves and unforgiving rocks below.

"No!" came a scream. "Albus, no!"

A slender figure came running out from behind a large boulder. She was listening; she had heard everything, but Albus Severus Potter had given no indication of what he was about to do and she didn't react in time.

Albus was free-falling now, as the girl–no, woman–looked down from atop the edge of the cliff.

"No," she sobbed, her tears wracking her frame. "I – I love you Albus."

She increased her volume and screamed, "I LOVE YOU, ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!"

The echoes of her scream rang through the air. Perhaps Albus heard, or perhaps not, but his eyes had found hers. From far away, he closed his eyes, and smiled a little smile. Then his body hit the rocks, twisting it into unnatural angles.

"I love you..." she sobbed. "I was afraid to tell you before; I didn't think I deserved you. Why would I deserve you, when you're worth so much more than I am? You were perfect; compassionate, kind, caring, and always there for me, and that's all I told myself I wanted. And now it's too late."

She cried even harder as she sat down on the ground, hunched up, circling her knees with her pale arms. She let out a hoarse wail of anguish. The sound echoed through the air, and then faded away to nothing. Her sobs died away, to be replaced with a look of fierce determination.

The woman stood up, a resolute look in her eyes. She knew what she had to do. No matter where Albus was, she had to be with him.

She looked up at the sky, the dark clouds above still releasing their burden, and then stepped gracefully off the edge.

For a few moments it was as if time itself was suspended; she felt as if she was falling forever. She closed her eyes and then suddenly she felt pain – pain everywhere, and just as suddenly, nothingness.

Down below, the sea became calm.


End file.
